Publications

The evolving and diverging challenges for the well-being of children after two decades of transition are examined. Following a long period of sustained economic growth and gradual improvements in living standards, the global economic crisis is now threatening to reverse some of the recent positive achievements and plunge households and children into another phase of uncertainty.
The Innocenti Social Monitor 2009 uses information from administrative and survey sources, some of it not previously available, to identify critical economic and social trends and assess the impact of policies on children in the period immediately preceding the current crisis. It also looks at changes in the economic and demographic context in which children are growing up as well as at trends of public social expenditure, all influencing policy choices that affect children. While acknowledging the important improvements in living standards which growth brought to children in the region, the report highlights persistent disparities in the distribution of benefits and in particular the vulnerability of children to the process of change. This has been partly due to the difficulties of policy to reach population groups most at risk and to provide adequate support to reduce inequalities and exclusion.
Providing a comprehensive overview of the decade up to 2008 and discussing monitoring and data challenges for the region, the report aims to help support and guide policy debate and decisions in a period of economic crisis. It is hoped to encourage policy makers to have a greater focus on child well-being, guided by human rights principles, to support those children most in need, to promote social inclusion and to give all children the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

По прошествии почти двух десятилетий переходного периода регион ЦВЕ/СНГ по-прежнему находится в состоянии перемен. После продолжительного периода устойчивого экономического роста и постепенного повышения среднего уровня жизни глобальный кризис угрожает обратить вспять некоторые из этих достижений и вернуть регион в период неопределенности в отношении обеспечения благо - получия семей и детей. В «Социальном мониторинге "Инноченти", 2009 год» имеющиеся данные используются в целях выявления переломных экономических и социальных тенденций и оценки воздействия соответствующих стратегий на положение детей в период экономического роста, кото - рый непосредственно предшествовал нынешнему кризису. В нем так - же рассматриваются изменения тех условий, в которых растут дети: характер экономического роста, углубляющееся неравенство, пора - зительные демографические тенденции, а также уровни и структура государственных расходов, – все это влияет на выбор политики, за- трагивающей интересы детей. Наряду с признанием значительных выгод, которые этот период принес детям в данном регионе, в докладе также уделяется особое внимание хроническому неравенству в распределении плодов эконо - мического роста и приводятся факты в подтверждение того, что в течение этого периода дети получили меньше благ, чем остальное население. Отчасти это объяснялось несостоятельностью политики в плане охвата тех групп детей, которые подвергаются наибольшему риску, и неспособностью обеспечить надлежащую политическую поддержку и ресурсы, необходимые для сокращения неравенства и риска социальной изоляции. Цель настоящего доклада, в котором содержится всесторонний обзор десятилетия вплоть до 2008 года, состоит в том, чтобы стать под - держкой и ориентиром в дискуссиях о политической программе и при принятии политических решений в период экономического кри - зиса, а также побудить политиков в большей степени учитывать интересы детей, уделять больше внимания выявлению и поддержке наиболее нуждающихся детей, содействовать социальной интегра - ции и обеспечивать каждому ребенку возможность в полной мере раз - вить свой потенциал.

After two decades of transition the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States face an increasingly diverse mix of old and new policy challenges to improving child well-being and realizing children’s rights. While attempts have been made to reflect these challenges and diversities by constructing indices of child well-being which measure and rank overall performance by individual countries, this paper proposes a simplified approach which examines five different dimensions of child well-being separately, using several indicators for each dimension that allow cross-country comparison. The dimensions included in the analysis are income, health, education, housing and deprivation of parental up-bringing. The results highlight a divergence of child well-being priorities in the selected dimensions for the different countries and for different age groups of children. The analysis shows that in the 2000-2008 period the situation of children improved in absolute terms in almost all dimensions in all countries, but that government interventions still face difficulties in reaching all children, and that across the region there are increasing differences in the character of problems facing the more vulnerable sections of the child population. The discussion shows that it is difficult to rank countries according to an overall level of child well-being, since performance varies significantly according to the choice of dimension or indicator considered. An overall index cannot therefore capture the open challenges, and indeed may distract policy attention away from them.

The first part of this paper documents the striking changes in population size and structures which have occurred since the beginning of transition, and which have led to a substantial reduction in the child population. It is argued that they have been mainly driven by the drop in birth rates which has characterised the whole region, but which has been most dramatic in the CEE and Western CIS. Some countries in these subregions now rank among those with the lowest levels of fertility in the world, and the shrinking cohorts of children in these countries face the prospect of a growing old-age dependency burden. The second part of the paper discusses recent data on infant and under-five mortality, which are direct measures of child well-being, and of the success of policy measures aimed at improving child survival and development. The paper highlights the marked differences not only in levels, but also in progress in reducing mortality rates across the CEE/CIS.

Despite recent economic growth, many children in the CEE/CIS Region remain vulnerable. Thousands of children continue to die before their first birthday, and increasing numbers of children are in formal care. Many young people lack employment opportunities and are at risk of marginalization. The tools to monitor these trends are often lacking, not standardized, or not routinely deployed. TRANSMONEE Features, along with the TRANSMONEE database, focuses on different aspects of children's lives, draws attention to mechanisms for monitoring trends and uses data to illuminate neglected issues. TRANSMONEE 2007 Features: Data and analysis on the lives of children in CEE/CIS and Baltic States looks closely at child survival; the forces behind the recent demographic changes occurring across the region, the challenges facing young people in their transition from school to work, and the issue of children growing up without parental care. Included with the print publication is a CD containing the MONEEInfo version of the TRANSMONEE database.

Несмотря на отмечаемый в последнее время экономический рост, многие дети в странах ЦВЕ/СНГ и государствах Балтии остаются уязвимыми. По-прежнему тысячи детей умирают в течение первого года жизни. Все больше детей находятся под официальной опекой. В публикации “Материалы базы данных TransMONEE 2007 года” более пристальное внимание уделяется проблеме выживаниядетей и тому, смогут ли страны ЦВЕ/СНГ достичь цели в бласти развития Декларации тысячелетия по сокращению на две трети смертности среди детей в возрасте до 5 лет; факторам, которые в последнее время привели к изменениям в уровне рождаемости, имеющим место в регионе; а также проблемам, с которыми сталкиваются молодые люди при трудоустройстве по окончании школы. Кроме того, в ней вновь ассматривается вопрос о детях, лишенных родительского попечения, в рамках проведения анализа, почему число детей, находящихся под официальной опекой, продолжает величиваться, несмотря на общее улучшение экономического положения.

This paper focuses on the transition from school to labour market for the generation of young people in CEE/CIS who experienced the most turbulent years of the transition in their formative years. Using administrative data on school enrolment, as well as data from labour force surveys, the paper tracks the main trends in education enrollments in primary, lower and upper secondary, showing that the impact of the economic difficulties of the early 1990s was greater in the poorest countries of the region, and was reflected in particular in falling enrollments for the non-compulsory levels of education. The post-1998 period of economic recovery brought with it a marked divergence between upper secondary education enrollments in the Central and Eastern European countries, and the rest of the region. However, data on enrollments give only a partial picture of what happened to the school system during the transition; statistics on attendance and achievements from other data sources suggest that inequality in school access and quality increased both across the region and within countries. Education trends (using indicators measuring both quantity and quality) influence outcomes in the labour market, but can also be influenced by them: labour force surveys’ results show that young people in CEE/CIS face a high risk of unemployment or underemployment. At the same time, in particular in CEE, lack of employment opportunities encourages young people to stay longer in the education system. Mismatches between the outcomes of the education systems and labour market demand, as well as the character of recent economic growth, have resulted in significant imbalances in the labour market.

This paper analyzes the changes that have intervened in the field of income poverty and human poverty since the onset of the transition in Moldova. With a biblical contraction of GDP, a fast rise in inequality, a drop in social expenditure and a weakening of civil society, most indicators of income poverty and human poverty deteriorated sharply after 1991. A clear improvement is evident since 2001, but most indicators of well-being still have to recover their pre-transition levels. There is some scope for social and macroeconomic policy to help reduce the negative inheritance of the first ten years of transition. Macroeconomic policy is rather deflationary, and keeps aggregate growth below what is needed to eradicate poverty quickly while paying little attention to its impact on inequality. There is room therefore to place greater emphasis on an equitable pro-poor growth characterized by greater investment in agriculture and higher overall employment intensity, as well as a better allocation of migrant remittances and stronger social policies.

This is an overview to the Innnocenti Social Monitor 2006 which studies child poverty in a fast-changing region. Since 1998 almost all countries of the South-Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States region have shown signs of economic recovery. The numbers of people living in income poverty has fallen, living standards have generally improved and opportunities for many children in the region have expanded. This signals a turning point in the dramatic decline in social and economic conditions experienced by most children in the region in the early 1990s. Yet there is a serious risk that a part of the new generations of children born since the start of the transition is being left behind. The study shows that not all children are benefiting from the economic growth and that Governments in the region need to give higher policy priority to tackling disadvantage and deprivation endured by children. Pursuing a child rights perspective, the study set outs to measure and understand better the nature and scale of child poverty, as distinct from adult poverty; it highlights the large disparities in child well-being which have emerged in this period of economic expansion, between countries, between regions within countries, and between families; it points to ways in which governments in the region could more effectively address marginalisation and disparities among children. The Innocenti Social Monitor 2006 provides practical examples of ways in which children can be given distinct attention and visibility in the analysis of poverty and in policy priorities, while also stressing that data collection has to be improved and made more accessible in order to allow the impact of policies on children to be effectively assessed and addressed.

This is a study of child poverty in a fast-changing region. Since 1998 almost all countries of the South-Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States region have shown signs of economic recovery. The numbers of people living in income poverty has fallen, living standards have generally improved and opportunities for many children in the region have expanded. This signals a turning point in the dramatic decline in social and economic conditions experienced by most children in the region in the early 1990s. Yet there is a serious risk that a part of the new generations of children born since the start of the transition is being left behind. The study shows that not all children are benefiting from the economic growth and that Governments in the region need to give higher policy priority to tackling disadvantage and deprivation endured by children. Pursuing a child rights perspective, the study set outs to measure and understand better the nature and scale of child poverty, as distinct from adult poverty; it highlights the large disparities in child well-being which have emerged in this period of economic expansion, between countries, between regions within countries, and between families; it points to ways in which governments in the region could more effectively address marginalisation and disparities among children. The Innocenti Social Monitor 2006 provides practical examples of ways in which children can be given distinct attention and visibility in the analysis of poverty and in policy priorities, while also stressing that data collection has to be improved and made more accessible in order to allow the impact of policies on children to be effectively assessed and addressed.

Economic collapse in the former Communist bloc led to soaring levels of child poverty in the 1990s. The effects of rising unemployment, underemployment and wage arrears were exacerbated by the erosion of state support for families with children as governments responded to a collapse in revenue. Since 1998, even the poorer countries of the bloc - those in South Eastern Europe and the CIS - have seen a return to economic growth. But have the benefits of growth been felt by children? Are child support policies being restored or restructured as economic conditions improve, and to what effect? This paper examines three aspects of government support for the youngest children – maternity leave policy, child and family allowances and pre-school/nursery provision. The paper calls for governments and donors to pay greater attention to the needs of very young children. It calls for a substantial increase in public spending on each of these policy areas, and it further recommends that governments (a) introduce proxy means tests to improve the targeting of family allowances; (b) make maternity benefit available on a social assistance as well as a social insurance basis; and (c) make a commitment to ensuring that all 3-5 year olds have free access to some early years education each week, albeit on a part-time basis.

This paper examines poverty in recent years among children in the countries of South Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The indicator used to measure poverty is found to be robust to sensitivity testing, and to correlate well with non-income indicators of well-being among children. The absolute poverty rate among children is highest where national income is lowest, and where the density of children in the population is highest. The paper analyses two dimensions of child poverty - according to household composition, and according to its urban, rural and regional dimensions. The most important findings from a policy point of view are the strong rural character of child poverty, and the relationship between child population density (at the level of the country, the sub-national region, and the household) and child poverty: where child population shares are higher, child poverty rates are also higher. This relationship, moreover, may have strengthened over time. Child population density needs to be seen more as a trigger to redistribution.